$100,000, where would you invest?

[<><]

if you had $100,000 to invest, where would you invest to make the money work for you, make the money grow....

[Ima saver]

I would put it into a mutual fund. But the way land is going up here, I might invest in land instead.

[contrary1]

This is just too odd............I was going to post the same question today. My mom just got 100,000 from a sale of some property & wanted to know what to do with it. She is partial to doing something that will generate some income. Also have additional 100,000 we could combine to get more bang for her buck, so to speak. Ideas??

[Crystallas]

ethanol

[sweeps]

Originally Posted by Crystallas

ethanol

Powershares Clean Energy ETF (symbol PBW) might be a better bet. Article here.

[midlight21]

What about ETF's?

[Ima saver]

I would be too scared to put that much money in the stock market all at one time, in one stock. I believe I would pick out a good mutual fund, and dollar cost average into it, a month at a time. I would keep the balance in one of the saving accounts paying 4.5%. and then add $5000-10,000 a month into that good mutual fund!

[34saving]

That's kind of funny, because I'd be scared to put it all into one mutual fund I'd probably spread it out over about 10 of them.

[sweeps]

No guts, no glory.

[pyotr]

I would do this. Put the 100,000 immediately into one of the banks giving you 5% APY while you do the research (this would get you about $415 monthly in cash easy). Next, decide if you want to be safe and steady or willing to take big risks for bigger potential rewards.

If safe and steady, buy about 5 mutual funds (a bit less than $20k each): something like PRWCX, PENNX, DODFX, PRNEX, and throw 20k into Treasury bills or bonds of choice also.

If you want big risks for big potential returns quickly, buy a couple of higher risk, sector funds like BUFTX, then throw the rest into some stocks that might explode. You want some names? look up and read like hell about the stocks, like AMAT, BSTE, FDC, WMI, MDT.

I'm the safe/steady type so I'm doing something like the former case, but I dream of swinging for the fences with the latter strategy (never done it though).

[Crystallas]

Originally Posted by Sweepsplayer

Powershares Clean Energy ETF (symbol PBW) might be a better bet. Article here.

I put in about $6000 in pacific ethanol sometime late last year. Its up to about $8500.
So its been a good stock for me, but I've been thinking about PBW aswell.. I think it might be a bit inflated right now from marketting, and while it will be a great stock. I wont buy into them until the hype has lowered a bit. I think I can make a 5% or better diffrence by waiting a month.

[Crystallas]

Originally Posted by pyotr

IYou want some names? look up and read like hell about the stocks, like AMAT, BSTE, FDC, WMI, MDT.

pretty good list.. add NRDXF.PK aswell. Seems like they are frontrunners to get the contract for NY states new energy act. If they dont, they still have the leading tech for wind power.

[SuzeOFan]

Originally Posted by <><

if you had $100,000 to invest, where would you invest to make the money work for you, make the money grow....

Why not take the money and reinvest it in real estate?
I was raised to believe that nothing beats tangible real estate for investing.

Question: Wasn't it through real estate investing/selling that you made the money in the first place? Hmmm... :

[Lemony]

Stocks.

[Ima saver]

I got into the stock market in the late ninties.I got burned, so I am stickiing to mutual funds. I have had good luck with vanguard Index funds, so I would probably stay with them. However, the way land is booming around here, I might use it for that. Problem is for $100,000 you can only buy one lot today!! (I sold 10 acres with a view and old house for $140,000 2 years ago. stupid me!!)

[sweeps]

Ima, you have to be careful jumping on the latest investing trend. People were irrationally exuberant about stocks in 1998 and 1999, just as they are irrationally exuberant about real estate (and precious metals for that matter) here in 2005 and 2006.

[CRFSaver]

Samir: You know what I would do if I had a million dollars? I would invest half of it in no load mutual funds and take the other half over to my friend Asadulah who works in securities and
Michael Bolton: Samir, you're missing the point. The point is you're supposed to work out what you
[printer starts beeping]
Michael Bolton: "PC Load Letter"? What the *&#$*@% does that mean?

Best lines ever for this question!!!

[JBinKC]

It depends upon how much you know and how much time you can devote to it and if you want growth or income from it? If you have no investment savvy I would tend to choose a mutual fund that is managed by Sprott Securities. If I wanted income I would be looking for foreign government bonds with a high exposure to countries that has an economy tied more to natural resources.


One thing I don't like are dollars holding them long term I see is the biggest risk going.

[Duchesse]

First things first, Put away 6 months expenses for an emergency fund ( ing, HSBC, Emigrant all have good rates). If you already have a home, consider another one as an income property. If you're not the landlord type. DIVERSIFY, DIVERSIFY, DIVERSIFY.

Every investment vehicle has good and bad points. They have all had their time as well. There was a time when bonds were it, stocks were it, mutual funds were it, real estate was it, CD's were it, get my drift?

After I put away my emergency fund, and bought myself two dozen crabs and some beer, I would spend 5 -10k on 5-10 different types of investment vehicles.

Park your money in a high interest money market account and THINK, RESEARCH, and then go for it. Good Luck!

[umo]

I agree-- 4-6 months of average expenses, and the rest into a high yield money market until you can make an informed decision. If there is any other debt (credit card, car, etc) I would pay them outright and be 100% debt free first.

I believe the investment into mutuals should vary depending on the age of your mom and how much risk tolerance she can take. I think a good choice is FFNOX (Fidelity Four in One).

FFNOX has four index funds inside of it:
~55% Fidelity Spartan (S&P 500)
~15% Fidelity Spartan Extended Market Index
~15% Fidelity Spartan International Index
~15% Fidelity US Bond Index
This fund has .2% expense ratio. very cheap!

What I would do to adjust the risk level is take 125 minus your moms age... Allocate that number as a percent to FFNOX, then allocate the rest into another bond fund.. So if she was 50, you would allocate 75% to FFNOX and then allocate 25% to a bond fund. (in a sense this means she would have approximately 40% in bonds if you include the ones from ffnox)

Hope this helps!
umo